Posts for: March, 2015

Every sport typically has some sort of playoff or tournament to see who the best team really is mainly out of those teams who were their respective conferences or divisions. College football had their inaugural playoff this year as a matter of fact. NCAA College basketball, on the other hand, has had a tournament for over 75 years; first tournament was in 1939. March Madness as it’s termed today is one of the most watched sporting events in the country. It’s also a tournament where every single team lays out everything on the basketball court with no intention of leaving anything behind. With that said, players are at an increased risk for sustaining some sort of injury. Georges Niang of the Iowa State Cyclones knows about that all too well. Niang fractured a bone on the outside of his right foot and now he has to sit out the rest of the tournament. The bone he broke is the most common bone to break in the foot and it’s actually the same kind of break that OKC’s Kevin Durant is rehabbing.

Fifth metatarsal fractures are very common but are also very difficult to treat depending on the extent and location of the break. On top of that, high-level athletes make the rehab process a little more daunting too because of their need to get back to the sport as soon as possible. Your local podiatrists at Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care in Monroe and Edison, NJ are highly trained foot and ankle surgeons who know just what it takes to treat these types of fractures. If the fracture is minimal and there is no displacement of the fractured piece they can usually be treated conservatively in a walking boot. However, if the fracture is large and it is displaced then surgical intervention is warranted. After surgery the patient will be non-weight bearing in a boot for about 4-6 weeks. It’s the time after surgery that is most crucial for the bone to heal properly. Any sort of motion (or micro-motion) will inhibit healing and will cause the patient to be off their feet for an extended period of time and this is why non-weight bearing is so important. From everyone here at AFACare, we want to wish Niang a speedy recovery and to stay off his foot!

Professional football players are in the “middle of the pack” when it comes to salary contracts. Most probably disagree with that statement, but it’s true—it has to be. They don’t play 82 games like basketball players. They don’t play 162 games like baseball players. Professional football players play a whopping 17 games, and most of the time that’s one game per week maybe two! So for them to sign extraordinarily high salaries like baseball players would be uneconomical. But, that’s not to say there aren’t contract signings out there that won’t make your heart skip a beat. You probably guessed it, Darrelle Revis, touted as the second best cornerback in the NFL, recently signed with his old team, the New York Jets. His contract is worth $70 million dollars over 5 years with 39 million guaranteed. Now, if you average that out per game per season (assuming one season=one year), that comes out to an astronomical $460K/game…and that’s just with the money that is guaranteed to him. If you use the numbers of his full contract, the dollar amount sky-rockets to $820K/game. I don’t know about you, but I would be happy just playing one game!

According to the Professional Football Player’s Association, the average age of a professional football player is 35 years. Revis is currently 30 years old, is probably at his peak in terms of performance, and his contract will end at the current average age. I think he has the deal of all deals for any athlete in sports right now. Surprising, though, is Revis tore his ACL while playing for the Jet’s which is why he was traded to the Buc’s in 2012-13. Now the tides have turned and the Jet’s offer him this ridiculously high salary. Do you think the management is worried about his ACL tear? I wouldn’t be. Although a very devastating injury to most, surgical treatment and therapy now-a-days is so sophisticated that athletes usually come back as strong as or stronger than they were previously.

So the next time you think an injury may hinder your favorite player’s chance at playing again (and playing for a max contract) think back to Darrelle Revis and the new deal he has coming up…congrats Mr. Revis! If you sustain an injury while playing sports, please don’t hesitate to call your local podiatrists at Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care in Monroe and Edison, NJ.

Music award shows are a time for musicians to showcase their talents, introduce new songs, and put on a great performance. Sometimes though, that is not always the case. Music artists practice hours on hours for their show but that doesn’t mean everything will go as planned. That said, I think it is safe to say Madonna knows a thing or two about practice not making performances perfect. At the 2015 Brit Music Awards Madonna got to know the stage all too well. She was dressed in high heels, a dress, and a long cape—which of those do you think caused the fall? Believe it or not, nothing she did caused the fall—one of the backstage dancers was supposed to remove Madonna’s cape and in doing so, the cape got stuck to her and the dancer pulled her down. So, with the accumulation of high heels and a faulty cape-unraveling Madonna took a tumble.

High heels are definitely not the easiest shoes to walk in let alone perform in. It’s amazing to me when I see musicians on stage doing what they do in high heels. What I think really catches my attention is that we don’t hear a lot about injuries of performers. That could be because they want to keep it private or it just doesn’t happen that often because they are that good! Who knows?! What I do know is that I wouldn’t condone any random person off the streets to do it without proper training. Those who wear high heeled shoes are at a high risk of breaking or spraining their ankle. If you have had a bad bout with high heels please don’t hesitate to call your local podiatrists at Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care in Monroe and Edison, NJ. We are highly trained foot and ankle surgeons who manage and treat any problem associated with your lower extremity. Most of these injuries are treated conservatively, meaning with rest, ice, compression, and elevation—or RICE. If that does not seem to do the trick you might need to wear a brace for added support while still doing RICE treatment. If these treatments don’t work over a period of about 4 months, surgery may be the next option. However, this is rarely the case.

Musicians are professionals and have been dancing on stage for most of their lives—with and without bizarre shoes—so they know what to do while up there. That’s not to say nothing will happen, as what happened in Madonna’s case. Even though it wasn’t all her fault, she still took a spill for the whole world to see.

Leg and foot injuries are common in sports like basketball, football, and soccer (just to name a few). But you rarely hear of someone breaking their foot/leg during a NASCAR race. That’s just what happened though to 29-year old Kyle Busch. He hit a concrete wall during an Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway and was said to have broken his right leg and he also sustained a midfoot fracture of his left foot. Unfortunately, this means he will miss the highly popular Daytona 500. This injury may have been avoided had the Speedway installed the SAFER (steel-and-foam energy reduction) barrier. “We’re going to fix that. We’re going to fix that right now” said Daytona track president, Joie Chitwood.

Motor vehicle accidents (MVA) are common causes of lower extremity injuries; especially the ones sustained by Mr. Busch. Although not common throughout the general population, midfoot fractures (also known as Lisfranc fracture dislocations) are commonly associated with MVA’s. These fractures only comprise 0.2% of all foot fractures. The midfoot joint is comprised of the bases of your metatarsal bones and your three cuneiforms and cuboid bones. The Lisfranc joint also has a Lisfranc ligament which attaches to the lateral aspect of the 1st cuneiform and the medial aspect of the base of the 2nd metatarsal bone. Once this injury occurs it is likely the patient will need to have surgical intervention as conservative treatment does not seem to work as well. There are different degrees of this injury which correlate to different surgical approaches. So, if you have sustained this type of injury please do not hesitate to call your local podiatrists at Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care located in Monroe and Edison, NJ. Although surgery usually helps alleviate the symptoms, post-traumatic arthritis usually occurs in all patients with this type of fracture.

Lower extremity injuries are most common in high impact sports or sports that involve lots of cutting and jumping. Although this isn’t the case in NASCAR, they are traveling at speeds exceeding 200mph so if they do crash I would expect to see them injure some part of their body. From everyone here at AFACare, we would like to send our condolences to the Busch family and hope he has a speedy recovery.